M  \  S  o 


15  35 


REPORT 

OF  THE 

COMMITTEE  OF  TWENTY 

CONCERNING  PLANS  FOR  THE 


iS 


Interchurch  World  Movement 


OF 


JANUARY 
19  19 


*  •  -  -  f 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  TWENTY 


•1 

h 

I 


\ 

i 

I 

f 

i 

j 

f 

i 

t 

♦ 

i 

1 

\ 

i 

< 

] 

1 

| 


j 

i 


i 

f 


i 

! 


i 


f 

| 


t 


r 


| 


f 

f 

f 

\ 

I 

\ 

•, 

i 

* 

! 

S 

f 


On  December  17,  1918,  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
representatives  of  the  Home  and  Foreign  Mission  Boards 
and  allied  agencies  met  in  conference  in  New  York  City 
at  the  call  of  the  Foreign  Board  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  to  consider  the  advisability 
and  feasibility  of  a  united  campaign.  The  entire  day  was 
spent  in  the  consideration  of  this  question  and  it  was 
unanimously  agreed  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  such  a 
campaign. 

A  committee  of  twenty  was  appointed  to  outline  a  plan 
to  be  submitted  to  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference  of 
North  America,  the  Home  Missions  Council,  the  Council 
of  Church  Boards  of  Education,  the  Sunday  School  Coun¬ 
cil,  the  Federation  of  Women’s  Boards  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  and  the  Council  of  Women  for  Home  Missions. 

This  Committee  presents  the  following  report  to  these 
agencies  for  approval  and  favorable  recommendation  to 
their  constituent  bodies:  That  there  be  organized 

THE  INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT  OF 

NORTH  AMERICA 

I.  Purpose 

To  present  a  unified  program  of  Christian  serv¬ 
ice  and  to  unite  the  Protestant  churches  of  North 
America  in  the  performance  of  their  common 
task,  thus  making  available  the  values  of  spiritual 
power  which  come  from  unity  and  coordinated 
Christian  effort  and  meeting  the  unique  oppor¬ 
tunities  of  the  new  era. 

II.  Interests  Included 

While  primarily  a  Home  and  Foreign  Mission¬ 
ary  Movement,  the  movement  is  to  be  broad 
enough  to  cover  all  those  interests  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  outside  of  the  local  church 
budget  which  are  naturally  related  to  the  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprise  through  national  agencies — 
denominational  or  interdenominational. 

III.  Methods 

1.  Organization 

(1)  National 

a.  General  Committee  of  approxi¬ 
mately  one  hundred. 

b.  Executive  Committee  not  to  exceed 
fifteen. 

c.  Canadian  Council. 

(The  questions  involved  in  the 
movement  that  are  peculiar  to  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  should  be  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  Canadian  Council.) 


(2)  State  and  Local 

The  organization  throughout  the 
country  in  each  state  and  local  com¬ 
munity  of  all  the  Christian  forces  into 
some  form  of  inter-church  committee  or 
federation. 

2.  Survey 

A  thorough  united  survey  of  the  home  and 
foreign  fields  of  the  world  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  accurate  and  complete  data  as  to 
what  ought  to  be  done  by  the  combined 
churches  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  hour,  and 
of  at  least  the  next  five  years. 

3.  Education  and  Publicity 

A  thorough  going  educational  and  publicity 
campaign  to  carry  the  facts  of  the  survey  to 
the  entire  Protestant  church  constituency  in 
America  and  to  every  mission  station 
throughout  the  world  where  the  churches  of 
North  America  are  at  work. 

4.  Field  Campaign 

A  field  campaign  for  the  purpose  of  arous¬ 
ing  the  church  to  a  realization  of  the  urgency 
of  united  effort  in  meeting  the  needs  of  the 
community,  the  nation  and  the  world,  and  of 
inspiring  and  organizing  the  Christian  forces 
to  undertake  an  adequate  world  program. 
This  field  campaign  to  include  a  series  of 
regional  conferences  to  be  begun  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment,  followed  by  con¬ 
ventions  and  training  conferences  through¬ 
out  the  country,  to  acquaint  the  churches 
with  the  message,  plans  and  methods  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North 
America,  to  appeal  for  the  resources  of 
spiritual  power,  life  and  money  called  for  by 
the  survey  and  to  organize  all  the  forces  for 
the  carrying  out  of  their  full  part  of  the  pro¬ 
gram. 

5.  United  Budget  and  Treasury 

A  united  budget  which  shall  constitute  the 
financial  objective  and  which  shall  be  pre¬ 
sented  to  the  constituency  of  the  cooperating 
agencies  together  with  the  educational  and 
spiritual  objectives  of  the  movement.  It  is 
clearly  understood  that  the  united  movement 
shall  not  displace  or  interfere  with  the  auton¬ 
omy  and  responsibility  of  administration  of 
the  cooperating  agencies,  and  it  is  urged  that 
all  funds  should  be  sent  as  far  as  possible  di¬ 
rectly  to  the  treasurers  of  such  agencies  from 
their  natural  constituencies,  but  in  view  of 
the  necessity  of  provision  for  receiving  and 
distributing  any  funds  that  might  be  con- 


tributed  to  it  without  being  sent  through  de¬ 
nominational  treasurers  a  central  treasury  be 
established  to  which  funds  given  for  the 
united  budget,  but  contributed  through  or¬ 
dinary  church  channels,  may  be  reported  by 
the  cooperating  agencies,  and  through  which 
donors  who  so  elect  may  contribute  directly 
to  the  united  budget.  The  functions  of  this 
central  treasury  shall  not  be  administrative 
but  to  assemble  and  report  the  financial  facts 
connected  with  the  campaign,  disburse  funds 
for  the  common  expenses  of  the  campaign, 
and  serve  as  a  clearing  house  between  the  co¬ 
operating  agencies  in  order  to  insure  to  each 
its  pro  rata  share  of  the  funds  secured,  as 
agreed  on  in  advance  by  its  percentage  in  the 
united  budget. 

6.  Financial  Drive 

A  united  financial  campaign  in  the  spring 
of  1920,  or  whenever,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
leaders  of  the  movement  the  churches  are  suf¬ 
ficiently  prepared,  to  secure  the  funds  shown 
by  the  survey  to  be  needed  to  carry  through 
the  world  program  on  an  efficiency  basis. 

7.  Conservation  and  Extension 

A  conservation  and  extension  program  to 
be  worked  out  as  the  movement  progresses  to 
insure  the  sustained  cooperation  of  all  the 
forces  involved. 

8.  Expenses  of  the  Movement 

The  movement  to  be  financed  out  of  funds 
secured  and  not  by  direct  assessment  upon 
the  participating  bodies. 

IV.  Immediate  Steps 

If  and  when  the  foregoing  proposals  shall  have 
been  recommended  for  submission  by  the  Foreign 
Missions  Conference  and  Home  Missions  Coun¬ 
cil  to  their  participating  bodies,  the  Committee 
of  Twenty  shall  proceed  to  complete  the  organ¬ 
ization  by  choosing  members  of  the  general  com¬ 
mittee  who  shall  act  with  full  authority  to  carry 
out  the  foregoing  proposals. 


S.  Earl  Taylor,  Chairman 
William  B.  Millar,  Secretary 


Mrs.  Fred  S.  Bennett 
James  E.  Clarke 
Miss  Mabel  Cratty 
D.  D.  Forsyth 
William  H.  Foulres 
Principal  Alfred  Gandier 
(Ri  P.  Mackay,  Alternate) 
Fred  P.  Haggard 
F.  H.  Knubel 

Bishop  William  Lawrence 
(Bishop  A.  S.  Lloyd,  Alternate) 


John  R.  Mott 
Cornelius  H.  Patton 
Mrs.  Henry  W.  Peabody 
Fred  B.  Smith 
Robert  E.  Speer 
James  M.  Speers 
James  I.  Vance 

(Charles  H.  Pratt,  Alternate) 
Charles  R.  Watson 
Charles  L.  White 
J.  Campbell  White 


